Terminator follows in footsteps of his hero, Reagan

By Hugh Davies

12:01AM BST 08 Aug 2003

Arnold Schwarzenegger keeps a large bust of Ronald Reagan in his Santa Monica office and says: "Reagan was heaven."

For above all fellow stars, Reagan is his model. If he wins the governorship of California, Schwarzenegger expects to follow his dictum of urging aides to keep memos short and sweet. The comparison has its limitations. Because he was born abroad, he will be unable to run for the White House, where Reagan spent eight years.

But like the former president, the Austrian-born actor will hope that rivals will underestimate him.

In fact, as Reagan recalled in his memoirs, when he ran for California governor in 1966 after appearing in 54 films, Pat Brown, his Democratic rival, was sure that a Hollywood star was no competition.

Others in Reagan's footsteps have included Clint Eastwood as mayor of Carmel, actor Fred Thompson who went to Congress, and singer Sonny Bono, who served on Capitol Hill and as Palm Springs mayor.

Related Articles

The biggest shock in recent times was the unexpected snatching of the governorship of Minnesota by Jesse Ventura, a wrestler-actor who proved to be an astonishing success.

Darrell West, co-author of Celebrity Politics, said: "Actors have been very successful in politics because the skills are very similar to the acting profession.

"You need to be able to relate well to an audience and you need to deal with the media."

Fred Grandy, who played Gopher in the television show The Love Boat, said his career was invaluable in getting to Congress. "The advantage is that you are known to everybody. The fact that I was Gopher was worth a couple of thousand dollars of campaign finance."